Our {Urban Love} Photoshoot with Today's Bride Magazine

Let's whip out the champagne! Congratulations are in order as Today's Bride officially becomes a large format magazine. Cristine Thomas, Editor in Chief, has poured her heart and soul into this magazine, and it truly shows.

For this premier issue, Cristine asked a group of wedding designers and planners to create photoshoots around 4 distinct styles--Architectural Modern, Sweet & Sassy, La Femme Vintage, and Rustic Restoration. Gloria Wong and I teamed up for Architectural Modern, and chose the urban Hotel Vitale as our location for the shoot. As with all other shoots, it took a tremendous amount of time and effort to pull in a stellar team, to source materials, and to plan the production. Everyone contributed selflessly to make the shoot a really successful one.

The magazine is now on newsstands, and available at nearly every wedding venue in the Bay Area. I am excited to share our pages with you here, but I would highly encourage you to pick up a copy of the magazine, as you will surely be inspired by all the other shoots as well!

Destination Wedding In Hawaii

Aloha! Amanda and I are flying out today, to coordinate a lovely wedding at the Ihilani JW Marriott in Kapolei, Hawaii! We're super excited for this opportunity, and will hit the ground running with final walk throughs, BEO meetings, inventory checks, and rehearsals, so that Kit and Tony can fully enjoy their pre-wedding activities with their friends and families! Keep up with our adventures by "liking" our Facebook page!

Survey from Splendid Communications

I have been a loyal reader to Liene's blog, Think Splendid, for years. She is an expert in social media for the wedding industry, and she generously shares her wealth of knowledge through her blog every day. In fact, her posts are my very first reads of the day, which is a great way to start my day off. Liene is conducting a global survey of recently married and engaged couples right now, and is open to anyone who got married 2007 and later or who is currently planning their wedding. Please help Liene to gather as much and as accurate information as possible by taking a brief moment to fill out her survey here.

Thank you!

Wedding at Ocean Song, Occidental California

When Maia first called me with her engagement news, and asked me to be her wedding planner, I was beyond delighted. I met Maia many years ago when I was the planner for her brother's wedding, and there is always something very sentimental about being hired again within the same family. Perhaps it's knowing that the trust carried on for so many years.

Maia and her fiance, Alex, lived in New York, but they chose a very special venue to wed at, name Ocean Song. The venue is as beautiful as its name, tucked away in the coastal hills of Occidental, California. Maia's parents owned a cabin nearby, where they built many fond memories with the family, so it was a natural choice for Maia to get married in this small, quaint town.

The entire property is enchanting, with a stunning panoramic view that just bewilders anyone who steps foot there. Every corner is picturesque with blooming flowers, greeneries and trees. When the fog rolls in before dinner, it becomes a magical sight that is simply awe-inspiring. Guests dined on long wooden tables in the barn, family style, and Blue Orchid Floral did a phenomenal job using lots of different textural floral elements to spruce up the tables. 

Maia and Alex were always less into the details, but more into the sacredness of bringing their two families together to become one. It was so refreshing, and so sweet, to witness how in love they were with one another...

And now, they are expecting their first baby this summer! Much love and well wishes to Maia and Alex on their new journey ahead. To see more photos, click here for Style Me Pretty's recent feature on their wedding!

Thank you to the entire team that made it happen! 

Event Planning + Production: Jubilee Lau Events

Venue: Ocean Song

Caterer: Pegi Ball Catering

Floral Design: Blue Orchid Floral

Photography: Tinywater Photography

Makeup/Hair: JBeautique

Rentals: Classic Party Rentals, Napa

Rentals: Grapevine Party Rentals

Hands On Gourmet

As a planner, I get many chances to recommend service providers to my clients. It's a process of match-making that I love. I honestly don't expect to receive anything in return from my vendors, other than for them to do the best possible job for our mutual clients. It is humbling though, when they appreciate the hard work that planners put into a wedding. A few weeks ago, Gertrude and Mabel Photography decided to spruce up the fun factor while showing their appreciation for all the planners and designers that have supported their business through the years. They planned a hands-on dinner experience for us at Hands On Gourmet in the dogpatch district of San Francisco.

Below is a fabulous slideshow recapping the sensational time that we shared...



When you put groups of creative people together in the kitchen, along with unlimited libations, there are seriously no boundaries as to what they are capable of doing. I don't think I stopped laughing the entire time as I chopped, stirred, and showed off my mean culinary skills. After all the kitchen work, we got to sit down and enjoy the fruits of our successes, all while someone else cleaned the messes we left behind...

Thank you so much to Gertrude and Mabel Photography, Hands on Gourmet, and Mobile Libations for a fantastic evening. This would be a great place to host bridal showers, birthday parties, rehearsal dinners, and team building events!

Featured in Malaysia's Signature Weddings Magazine

Of the hundreds of weddings that I have planned, one that holds near and dear to my heart is Amanda and Steven's wedding in 2010. Amanda has been an incredible anchor to Jubilee Lau Events since she joined as our Production Lead in 2008. I attribute many of our successful weddings to Amanda's amazing attention to detail, her strong leadership abilities, and her remarkable sensitivity to our clients' needs.

Getting to help Amanda plan her wedding was a whole lot of fun, but my favorite part was having the honor to send her down the aisle on the wedding day. I watched, teary-eyed, as she floated down the center aisle of the magnificent Julia Morgan Ballroom, and I couldn't have been more happy for her.

Humble as ever, Amanda was hesitant to have her wedding published, but recognized what a special keepsake it would be for future generations to come. It was first published on Style Unveiled, and just this week, we received the exciting news that it was published in a wedding magazine, in Malaysia of all places!

Such sweet memories of that beautiful day, all captured by the accomplished Kevin Chin! And now, Amanda and Steven are expecting their first bundle of joy this summer. Congratulations to them!